iPad 2 that travels around the world fetches $1,000 in Hong Kong

Were you waiting forever in line for an iPad 2 on launch day? It turns out …

High demand and limited roll-out for Apple's iPad 2 have pushed prices as high as $1,500 on the grey market in Asia. Though iPads are produced in China, many line-waiters in the US were procuring them for shipment back to Hong Kong or China where they may not be available for months.

There were long queues of people hoping to grab an iPad 2 on launch day at Apple Store locations around the country; several Ars staff members (myself included) experienced our own long wait at the Lincoln Park Apple Store in Chicago. While in line, we separately heard several people saying they were shipping their iPad 2 to Asia. "This one's going to China!" one line-waiter declared. "I might get my own one day." And, a couple just ahead in line were getting paid an extra $100 bounty on each iPad they could provide to a courier flying to Hong Kong on Saturday.

That courier was likely delivering iPad 2s to Kurt Lo, reportedly the "master" of the Hong Kong grey market for Apple products. Lo, sales manager at Digital Action Telecom told The Wall Street Journal that he had couriers in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and LA ready to bring iPads to fulfill the 200 pre-orders his store had received.

"We have no expectations for prices," Mr. Lo said. "We will look at market conditions." But estimates put the price for a 16GB WiFi iPad at around HK$7,980, or about US$1,025. A top-end 64GB 3G model is expected to cost about HK$11,880, or US$1,525. And while some customers are Hong Kong natives, others are placing orders from Singapore and India.

In other words, customers in Asia are paying double to buy an iPad produced in a factory in Shenzhen, flown to US Apple Stores, then flown back to electronics stores in Hong Kong—just to avoid waiting until Apple rolls out the iPad 2 in the region where the devices are built.

Apple announced the first international launch of the iPad 2 will happen March 25, including Canada, Mexico, and a good chunk of Europe. The only Asia region countries include Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Apple hasn't said when the iPad 2 will launch in the rest of Asia, but those waiting in line to ship iPads to Hong Kong said the wait could be as long as six months.

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